Chapter 41 — The Medicine Bearer Through the Chaos

Yen Phung Citadel Gate

Yen Phung citadel gate appears from afar like a giant stone wall rising in the middle of the plain, so high that Tinh Yen has to tilt her neck to see all the gray stone slabs stacked on top of each other, thick moss in the cracks that have existed through countless dynasties. She had thought the Long Mon pass wall was the most massive structure she had ever seen in her life, but standing in front of the capital's gates, she realized she was wrong - this place was not built to stop enemies, but to remind anyone passing by that they were entering the power center of an entire kingdom.

The crowd of people crowded in front of the gate was suffocating, horse carts carrying goods were lined up waiting for guards to check, street vendors weaved their way through the crowd, the sound of selling goods, the sound of arguing and bargaining, the sound of horse hooves tapping on the stone floor mixed together into a chaotic sound that Tinh Yen had never heard anywhere she had ever been, including Thanh Duong district on the busiest market days. She lifted the car curtain and looked out, feeling a bit overwhelmed by the scale of everything that was displayed before her eyes.

"Is this your first time coming to Yen Phung?" The driver, one of the four escort soldiers sent by Lu Bat, asked when he saw her stunned expression.

"Right." Tinh Yen replied, her voice still a bit surprised. "I never thought a place could be so crowded."

"This is just the outer gate, lady." The soldier smiled, seemingly proud to be the one who led her to witness this scene for the first time. "Inside, the closer you are to the royal palace, the wider the streets and the higher the houses. People call that area the Inner City. The Imperial Hospital is located on the edge of the Inner City, close to the royal ministries."

The convoy of vehicles inched through the gate, enduring a document check procedure that lasted nearly an hour. The guard guarding the gate, his cold face used to interrogating hundreds of people every day, picked up Tinh Yen's edict and glanced at her, then glanced at her from head to toe - simple blue cloth, shoes with worn heels from the long journey, hair tied up without a single piece of jewelry - his eyes flashed a bit of suspicion before waving his hand away, as if he couldn't believe that a person with that appearance was carrying in his hand an official summons from the Royal Physician. Institute.

The deeper you go into the city, the more the scenery changes, just as the soldier said. Busy commercial streets give way to smoother paved roads, flanked by fences of officials' palaces painted in red and gilded, and curved tiled roofs carved with delicate dragon and phoenix images. Occasionally a procession of palanquins passes by, people on both sides of the road quickly move aside to make way, bowing their heads and not daring to look straight - a rule that Tinh Yen has never had to follow at Long Mon pass, where even generals treat soldiers and doctors with a certain closeness.

Thai Y Vien was located in a large campus surrounded by high brick walls, the main gate had three large letters painted red and gilded, on both sides there were stone crane statues standing - an image that made Tinh Yen's heart tighten slightly when remembering the white crane engraved on the piece of jade amulet she still carries in a red cloth bag. She got off the bus in front of the gate, stood still for a moment, looked up at the sign with the name of the hospital, clearly feeling the distance between this place and the simple canvas tent of the Long Mon military hospital, the place she had called home for nearly two years.

"Who are you looking for?" A young clerk stood guard in front of the side gate, looking at her with searching eyes, his tone somewhat condescending when he saw her simple outfit mixed in with the crowd of people who came to see the doctor and often came to the main gate to ask for medicine.

"I am Do Tinh Yen, bringing a summons from Chancellor Kinh Ba Van, from the military hospital at Long Mon pass." She replied, trying to keep her voice calm, holding out the sealed scroll.

The clerk took it again, opened it, and his face changed slightly when he saw the official seal. His attitude immediately changed, becoming much more respectful even though he was still a little confused and couldn't hide it. "Please wait here, miss, so I can report."

While waiting, Tinh Yen stood in a corner of the courtyard, observing the scene inside the Thai Y Vien campus through the slightly opened gate. She saw consecutive rows of gray tiled houses, long covered corridors connecting the areas together, and in the distance, a medicinal garden was planned in a straight line, completely different from the wild nature of the garden Mrs. Khue once planted in Lach Dua. Groups of doctors wearing light blue uniforms walked back and forth between the buildings, holding books or medicine trays, walking hurriedly but orderly, like ants in a carefully trained anthill.

A moment later, the clerk returned, followed by a middle-aged woman wearing a light purple shirt, with a serious appearance, probably the manager in charge of accommodation for new medical students.

"The chancellor is currently busy. He will be able to see you tomorrow." She said, her voice was not cold but not very warm either. "In the meantime, you will temporarily stay in the guest house for visiting doctors, in the West Institute. Follow me."

Tinh Yen nodded, signaled that the escort group could return to rest at a nearby inn as previously arranged, then carried her bag and followed the manager deep inside. The road leads through many rows of houses, each row has a sign with its own name - Internal Medicine Clinic, Surgery Clinic, Acupuncture Clinic, Pharmacy Department - names that make her both excited and somewhat overwhelmed at the scale of such a systematic organization, a far cry from the way the Long Mon military hospital operates based almost entirely on the experience and flexibility of each person.

The guest house is located in a hidden corner, much smaller than the main buildings, consisting of a few simple rooms for medical students from other places who come to consult or wait for evaluation. The housekeeper led her into a small room, with a wooden bed, a writing desk, and a chest, all clean but simple to the point of almost austerity.

"Meal and break times follow the hospital's regulations, there is a notice posted outside the door." She said, then looked at Tinh Yen for a moment, her eyes flashed with a bit of curiosity that was hard to hide. "You're the one who brought back the jade talisman from the border, right? Rumors spread here before you even arrived."

Tinh Yen paused, not expecting her story to be spread so far. "I... yes." She replied, trying to maintain composure even though a vague insecurity arose in her heart.

The manager did not say anything more, just nodded slightly and turned to leave, leaving Tinh Yen standing alone in the middle of the strange room, the sound of her footsteps fading away on the tile floor. She put her hands on the bed and sat down, the tiredness of the long journey finally coming, but mixed in with it was a new worry - if the rumor about the token had spread far enough for a normal administrator to know, then how many people in this Royal Hospital had heard about her before she could prove anything with her own hands?

In the evening, she went out to walk around the guest house, looking for a place to dine as directed. She overheard a few young doctors sitting huddled together chatting in the corner of the yard. Their voices were small but enough to reach her ears as the wind blew past.

"I heard that they found a piece of jade that was lost twenty years ago, and now appears in the hands of an unknown girl at the border." A soft voice. "The old officials in the courtyard were all in a stir, some even said it was a bad omen, bringing up old matters that should have been left alone forever."

"What old story?" Another voice asked, clearly curious.

"I don't know for sure. I only heard the older brothers vaguely mention it, saying that twenty years ago there was a big incident in the academy, involving a royal physician who suddenly disappeared without his whereabouts. Then there were rumors that he had died. Now that his token has appeared again, who wouldn't be surprised?"

Tinh Yen stood silently behind a row of trees, her heart beating rapidly, not daring to step out for fear of being discovered eavesdropping. She remembered Nhiep Dinh Toan's warning from years ago - "there are names, once they have disappeared from the court records, people do not want them to reappear" - now that statement is no longer an abstract warning, but has become a reality that is spreading right before her eyes, among young doctors who have never even met her.

She quietly returned to her room, no longer in the mood to eat or drink, sat down at the writing desk, took out half a piece of jade talisman from her red cloth bag, placed it on her palm, and looked at the delicately carved white crane under the flickering oil lamp light. She thought of Lieu Nguyen, of what he had not been able to say before he passed away, of the question that had been hanging over the past two years - why a royal physician had to fake his death to leave this noble official position, carrying with him a secret so big that even after twenty years, just a piece of jade reappearing was enough to make an entire long-standing hospital of physicians stir.

"I'm here, master." She whispered into the oil lamp light, her voice as soft as if afraid, disturbing the quiet night that covered the strange guest house. "And I will find out, what secret did you carry that was so heavy?"

That night, Tinh Yen couldn't sleep, her ears still ringing with the vague conversations of the young doctors. Her heart was both excited at the new threshold about to open, and anxious at the same time in a world where she clearly felt that she was still a completely unfamiliar outsider - where every look, every word, even every silence, could carry a deeper meaning than what was shown on the surface.